Dear TBZ Community,
Maybe you have heard this story before:
A person dies and goes to heaven. Upon arriving, the person stands in front of the Throne of God and says, “I am very angry at you! Can’t you see that the world you created is filled with suffering, ugliness, and destruction? Why don’t you do something to fix the world’s mess?” God looks down at the person, and, with a gentle voice, says, “I did something, I sent you.”
Often in times of tragedy and pain, people ask about God’s role. Did God cause that to happen? Why did God allow suffering to happen? Why didn’t God do anything about it? People of all ages – adults with a long life experiencing ups and downs, little kids, and all ages in between – ask these same questions.
There is much to say about how we understand God and God’s role in our lives and in the world – too much to write in a one-page Shabbat message. But for me, an answer to these questions is this story. Human beings were created in the image of God and we were sent to the world to do something. What we do is up to each of us, and the choices we make reside in our capacity to see ourselves as messengers of God’s presence in the world.
This week we read Parshiot Behar-Bechukotai. This Torah portion addresses blessings for obeying the law and curses for disobeying it. If you do good, you will be blessed; if you do not do good, you won’t be blessed, you will be cursed. The parasha begins with:
אִם־בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ וְאֶת־מִצְותַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם
If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments (Leviticus 26:3)
Several verses later (Leviticus 26:14) we read:
וְאִם־לֹא תִשְׁמְעוּ לִי וְלֹא תַעֲשׂוּ אֵתכּל־הַמִּצְות הָאֵלֶּה
But if you do not obey Me and do not observe all these commandments
The list that follows this verse is known as the תוכחות (tochechot, which means “rebuke”).
The concept of שכר ועונש (sachar va onesh – “reward and punishment”) which is suggested in these verses: our actions have consequences, and we get what we get for what we do. But we all know that the world doesn’t really work that way. Last week, I quoted and wrote about this very issue in my Shabbat N’kabla message in honor of Rabbi Harold Kushner z”l, who wrote the book When Bad Things Happen to Good People. If bad things happen to good people, if people who do good things experience suffering, then how come there is this idea of reward and punishment?
On the other hand we try to teach our children that they have responsibilities and that there are consequences to their actions. If they fail to put away a toy, the toy may get stepped on and break. If they choose to avoid their homework, they may struggle during a test. This notion of actions having consequences is a very simple but powerful thing that reminds us to be responsible for our actions. We human beings are responsible for what we do and taking responsibility means knowing that if we don’t do the right thing, things might become literally and figuratively messy.
From a collective perspective, what this parasha is telling us is that this notion of reward and punishment works as a collective. This, I think, rings true in so many ways. If you look at the list of consequences in the parasha – environmental consequences, lack of food, and wars – they are mentioned on the list of tochechot.
What is so powerful, and also painful, about this parasha is that the list of tochechot is not an inevitable reality. It’s a strong warning intended to awaken us to change our ways. It is actually not called klalot (curses) or onashim (punishments), but tochechot (rebukes). This list is meant to remind us of the power of our own deeds.
Sadly, it doesn’t seem to work, in the same way, that we would hope that watching the news and reading the newspapers, (for example, about another mass shooting) could move our society and political leadership to understand that we need to make some changes in the way we are living in this world.
There is a tradition to read the tochechot in a lower voice and a bit faster than normal. Perhaps because we are afraid of them and we do not want them to become true. But it seems to me that we are well past the time where being quiet about consequences makes sense.
One of the verses (Leviticus 26:12) in the list of rewards reads:
וְהִתְהַלַּכְתִּי בְּתוֹכְכֶם וְהָיִיתִי לָכֶם לֵאלֹהִים וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ־לִי לְעָם
I will be ever present in your midst: I will be your God, and you shall be My people.
Our actions in the world are about opening ourselves to God being present in our midst, to let God walking with us and within us, and to being in relationship with God. The answer lies within us. Our power lies in our being created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of God. Our power lies in our capacity for change and in the capacity to hope for the repair of the world, and to act on that hope. Our hope lies in our capacity to see ourselves as the messengers of the Divine Presence in this world to respond to tragedy, brokenness and pain.
God reminds us “I did something, I sent you.”
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing. And may we have a joyful, sweet, and peaceful Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rav Claudia